Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be welcome at Beijing’s planned commemorations of the end of World War II, but only if he is “sincere” about history, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said yesterday in a finger-wagging denunciation.
Relations between the Asian powers have plunged over issues including territorial disputes and Japan’s 19th and 20th-century invasions, with the ruling Chinese Communist Party regularly stoking nationalism as part of its claim to a right to rule.
Unlike the former Soviet Union, China does not hold major annual military parades, but has announced plans for one to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Beijing has not given a specific date for the parade, but it regards Sept. 3, the day after Japan signed its formal surrender to allied forces on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, as victory day.
Asked whether Abe would be invited, Wang told a news conference on the sidelines of a Chinese National People’s Congress parliament meeting: “We will extend invitations to the leaders of all relevant countries and international organizations.”
“We welcome the participation of anyone who is sincere about coming,” he added.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly urges Japan to “show sincerity” over history, suggesting that Beijing does not believe Tokyo does so.
The wider conflict is known in China as the World Anti-Fascist War, with the struggle against Tokyo’s Imperial forces officially called the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
“This issue has been haunting the China-Japan relationship,” Wang said, pointing his index finger in the air and recalling the words of an elder Chinese diplomat: “The more the victimizer is conscious of his guilt, the easier the victimized can recover from their suffering.”
“Those in power in Japan should first ask themselves what they have done on this score,” he said. “Of course, the people of the world will reach their own conclusion. Seventy years ago, Japan lost the war; 70 years afterward, Japan must not lose its conscience.”
“Will it continue to carry the baggage of history, or will it make a clean break with past aggression? Ultimately, the choice is Japan’s,” Wang said.
A meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Abe after an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing in November last year was meant to clear the air, but was instead marked by the brevity of the two men’s handshake and what has been interpreted as their disdainful body language.
Abe has said he would release a fresh statement on World War II this year, but will “in general” stand by previous apologies for Japan’s wartime actions.
An official 1995 apology by then-Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama said Japan “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations,” adding that Murayama felt “deep remorse” and offered a “heartfelt apology.”
Conservative Japanese nationalists would like the statement revoked, something that Abe is under huge international pressure to avoid.
However, the nationalist prime minister has equivocated on Japan’s guilt for its formalized system of forced sex work.
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